The Newbie
by BonkUppercut
Summary: When an eager young clone is invited on a mission with the famed Commander Cody, he's thrust into a fight for his life with nothing but guts and a DC-15.


The blaster felt strange in my hands. It was a standard DC-15, like the one I had been trained with. And I'd had a lot of training. I was fresh out of the clone academy on Kamino, but somehow I wasn't actually feeling ready to become a private. I had a number, CT-1330, but my name was Leo. It helped remind me that I wasn't just a mindless droid. I was a person. A cloned person, but a person nonetheless. And no matter what, I would never lose sight of that. As for right now, though, I was on my way to Kashyyyk to fight a droid army and probably die. I, for some reason, got to serve on a mission with Commander Cody, even though I'm a "shiny" in the 898th legion. I don't know what the Republic was thinking. There's me, Cody, three troopers named CT-4874 (Chen), CT-2190 (Joel), and CT-3323 (Trey), a captain named Salem, and a male Jedi Twi'lek named Tar'quin Kwi'teksa. I have to admit, I was grateful for Cody and Tar'quin, but the other ones I wasn't so sure about. But here we were, on a Republic frigate to Kashyyyk to destroy entire armies of Droidekas at a floating Separatist base with nothing but our wits, a Jedi Knight, and a couple of DC-15 rifles. But I will fight to the best of my ability. Because I'm loyal, just like a clone should be.

"All right," Cody ordered during the briefing. "You have to find cover and take down as many as you can." That didn't make any sense, so, shakily, I spoke up. "Commander, wouldn't it make more sense to take some heavy weapons and try to destroy the actual base? Also, Tar'quin should take down the Droidekas, because DC-15s can't get through their shield. That would save us a lot of trouble." Cody looked at me in awe. "No one ever spoke up like that before. You're something special, CT-1330. As for your plan, that's actually a decent idea. So, CT-2190 and CT-3323, you distract the droids while CT-4874 and CT-1330 move in and destroy the base. CT-4874, you take the bazooka and go for the engine room. CT-1330, you're in charge of using a concussion grenade in the control room, and Tar'quin, you cover him, got it?" It sounded like a reasonable plan. I nodded my assent, and together with Chen, leaped out of the ship into the base.

I landed neatly on the tiled floor, however Chen fell flat on his helmet. If it wasn't for our Mandalorian armor, he'd be dead. Chen got up. "I- I'm fine," he muttered, "Let's get going." Tar'quin was nowhere to be found. But we were wasting valuable time. We dashed through the hallway to find at least seven Droidekas waiting for us. They opened fire and we hid behind opposite crates. I radioed Cody, saying "Oh man, Droidekas! Get Tar'quin over here pronto!" As if on cue, Tar'quin burst through the window on a sabotaged vulture droid and laid waste to the Droidekas, launching ion blast after ion blast. Chen and I looked around, no droids in sight. Perfect. Tar'quin seemed to know the way, strangely, and I trailed him. Chen had his own mission, and he went down a different corridor. Unfortunately, a blast door was in Tar'quin's way. It lifted for a brief time, but a mob of B1 Battle Droids came through and we couldn't enter. Tar'quin could have cut through it with his lightsaber, but he was busy fending off the droids. I concentrated on the door, trying to find a weak spot, and miraculously it busted open. I didn't have time to wonder how it happened. Luckily all the droids were defeated; otherwise we would have been toast. Tar'quin was blabbering something about a shatter point, but I wasn't really listening. "Come on!" I said. We started to run when I saw the ceiling begin to tilt and sputtering noises came from below. Chen must have taken the engine out. Cody's voice crackled to life in my helmet. "CT-1330, hurry! We don't have much time!" _No kidding,_ I thought to myself. The lockdown doors were already beginning to descend. I rolled under them, and a blue lightsaber cut through it behind me. But somehow, I could feel something lurking in the shadows, even though I couldn't see anything there.

Tar'quin sensed it too, and back- flipped over my head and stabbed it. Ironically, it was just an AAT Walker Droid. No threat. It was carrying a shipment of droid parts, and miraculously, a vial of liquid Tibanna. I pocketed the Tibanna; you never know when those come in handy. According to Cody, if I took a right I would get into the control room. The door was open, but for the first time, Tar'quin was no longer behind me. I looked up and down the hall, but I didn't see Tar'quin anywhere. Fear was starting to creep in and replace my determination. What could have happened? I willed myself to go on, though. Lightsabers were pretty handy nowadays, so I think Tar'quin could hold his own. So here I am, walking into the control room. Something feels wrong the moment I get in there. I look up and suddenly I was surrounded by assault droids with their shields up. They opened fire and I dodged the blaster bolts, although I couldn't keep it up much longer. There was nowhere to take cover and I only had one concussion grenade for taking out the pilot, so I suddenly got an idea. The pilot was ignoring me, a droid probably, because the ship, even though it was docked, still needed to be monitored. So naturally, my instincts once again took over. Placing the grenade in the Tibanna, careful not to set it off, I climbed on to the controls and painfully pried off a panel. Where the panel was, I carefully inserted the vial. I did a double flip off the controls, landing inside the shields of a Droideka. Before it could shoot me, I blew its head off. I ran like hell back out of the room, pressing the detonator button, but I wasn't able to move. Tar'quin was smiling, his palm open, and I could tell he was using the Force to stop me. The Force... Was that the source of my ability to break open the door? No clone had ever had the Force before, but was I different? Either way, he managed to push me back into the room. I felt the icy grip of death pulling me out of existence, and in my last second of life, I heard the triumphant laughter of Tar'quin, the traitor.


End file.
